There are many different bottles or breastmilk storage containers on the market for storing breastmilk. This can make the decision a lot more complicated than you anticipated when the time comes to begin storing your breastmilk. Your options generally vary from glass bottles, plastic bottles or containers, or plastic bags.

Anything that you decide to store your breastmilk in should be washed in hot, soapy water and rinsed well. If you are using a bag, make sure the bags say they are sterilized. Remember to always write the date (and sometimes time) on any breastmilk that you store and use the oldest breastmilk first.

You probably see plastic breastmilk storage bags sold and marketed the most online and in stores. Honestly, this was my first method of breastmilk storage. I guess it was because they were so widely marketed and available. I now chalk it off to not knowing any better!

It was more convenient and discreet for me to carry a plastic breastmilk storage bag around to pump my milk into. I was working for a litle while and it was very easy to just go into the bathroom, or wherever I was comfortable, and pump during my breaks. When out on daytrips, it was also convenient to just grab a bag of breastmilk and transfer it from the bag to the bottle.

It was great to be able to label the bags so that my mother-in-law simply knew which bag of breastmilk to use (even though I numbered them just in case when I gave them to her). If your child is in a daycare or other facility, the idea of being able to label the bag with your child's name is always a plus factor.

You will need to be careful not to contaminate the bags. Contamination can be done by allowing too much air to remain in the bag when you store the milk. Also, it is rumored that writing on the bags with ink can leak into and contaminate the breastmilk.

In my case, convenience of a smaller discreet breastmilk storage container was outweighed by economics. I personally recommend, hands down, plastic breastmilk storage trays.

I wanted a more economical way of storing my breastmilk so that I could both store it and use it in smaller quantities. For this reason, I found breastmilk storage trays to be the most convenient and economical way for me to store my breastmilk.

They are usually sold in packs of two and allow you to store and use only one ounce of breastmilk at a time. They are very easy to stack in the refrigerator or freezer, and you can label the plastic lid (I wrote on a sticker) without worrying about contaminating the breastmilk.

I also found breastmilk storage trays very useful later on when I began making my own baby food because I could also store the baby food in one ounce portions. Again, this helped to eliminate waste.

Another plus was that most of the breastmilk storage trays on the market are toxic free - some don't contain PVC, Bisphenol-A, or Plasticizer, all of which can be harmful to your baby.

As far as labeling the containers go, I knew which ones were oldest, but I didn't know which cubes were oldest (not that I think it made that much of a difference).

Also, the convenience factor wasn't always there when it came to needing to carry these trays around. However, the cubes were fairly convenient since I usually knew how much milk the baby would drink; so I would put the estimated amount of cubes in each bottle and then tote the bottles around with me in a cooler bag (a small one that held one or two bottles came with the pump kit that I bought).

When it comes to choosing the best breastmilk storage container for you and your family, only you know what is most convenient for you (both situationally and economically). Worst case scenario, you can play around with the different breastmilk storage options you have and try to find the container that best suit you (like I did). You may even end up using a combination!